Anyone who knows me has probably accused me of burying the lede at some point.  More than once.  Whether it’s in writing or during a conversation, I will sometimes work up to the main point in a timeframe that’s somewhere between annoying and infuriating. 

But compared to these guys, I’m practically a hit and run.

A blind email has been making the rounds, inviting its recipient to get a tan from the comfort of her own desk via ComputerTan.  Only the agency, McCann-Erickson is mentioned in the email that delivers this clever video:

—–ComputerTan, the world’s first online tanning service, offers a deep, long-lasting tan from the convenience of your computer. ComputerTan’s revolutionary technology remotely manipulates the electrical impulses delivered to the Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps present in every computer monitor, which transmit different wavelengths of light, from Infra-Red to Ultra-Violet. ComputerTan can control the level, intensity and exposure times of this light according to a person’s skin profile and usage history.—–

The video and viral quality of the work is quite good.  It’s a shame there’s no way to know who the client is unless you watch the entire video, go to the related website on your own, click around to “try” out the tanner yourself and then wait until a message comes up about the horrible effects of skin cancer.  That is just waaay too long to wait.  Too clever by half.  And too bad, too, because when your screen actually begins looking like the inside of a tanning bed, you do wonder, if just for a split second… 

A viewer on YouTube, Gutsy9, writes “This is a joke… right?”

Tantastic!